December 12, 2016

November 30, 2010

April 29, 2010

The Indiana Court of Appeals granted a rehearing in John Pickett v. State of Indiana, No. 47A01-0807-CR-322, to address whether Judge Cale Bradford should have recused himself because his ex-wife, Kimberly A. Jackson, represented John Pickett on appeal.

Judge Bradford admitted it escaped his attention that Jackson was the attorney on the case and he has a policy to recuse himself from cases in which she is involved. The judge recused himself from the case immediately, including the instant petition for rehearing.

Pickett asked the appellate court to withdraw the original decision and appoint a new panel to hear his appeal and to require Judge Bradford to "issue a standing order of recusal pursuant to Rule 2.11(A) of Jud. Canon 2 in cases in which Pickett's counsel represents one of the parties."

Judges Ezra Friedlander and Melissa May declined to sanction the concept of a "standing order" in this circumstance. The judges withdrew the original opinion and asked the Court of Appeals Administrator's Office to designate a replacement for Judge Bradford on the panel instead of having a new panel hear the appeal. Once the replacement judge has been named, the consideration of the appeal will proceed as normal, wrote Judge Friedlander.

Jennifer Nelson, editor, began writing for Indiana Lawyer in spring 2007. She previously was a reporter for IBJ Media’s Court & Commercial Record for 14 months. She spent five years as managing editor of Indiana Lawyer before becoming editor in December 2015.

Nelson won a second-place award in 2008 from the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for an IL story about the lack of resources for jurors who have to witness grueling evidence during criminal trials. While writing for CCR, she won first-place and second-place awards for business writing from the Hoosier State Press Association.

Nelson graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor's in journalism and political science. After graduation, she freelanced for several publications before joining IBJ Media. In the fall and winter, she and her husband can be found in Bloomington cheering on the Hoosiers in football and basketball.